Mechanism for tying together the ends of a wire passed round a package



Oct. 30, 1962 P. A. VAN DE BILT 3,0 ,84

MECHANISM FOR TYING TOGETHER THE ENDS OF A WIRE PASSED ROUND A PACKAGEFiled Sept. 6, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 I lllllllllllgl INVENTOR P/HMfle/vaww M/Vfii 5/4 7 ATTORNEY Oct. 30, 1962 P. A. VAN DE BILT 3,060,841MECHANISM FOR TYING TOGETHER THE ENDS OF A WIRE PASSED ROUND A PACKAGEFiled Sept. 6, 1960 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Ian \\\QJWE 26 5 27 ll i .a IEIlllllllllllllll .k V

ATTORNEY Oct. 30, 1962 P. A. VAN DE BILT MECHANISM FOR TYING TOGETHERTHE ENDS OF A WIRE PASSED ROUND A PACKAGE 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Sept.6, 1960 INVENTOR 1 /5721? ,4. VAN of 5/1.?

ATTORNEY Oct. 30, 1962 p .A. VAN DE BILT 3,060,841 MECHANISM FOR TYINGTOGETHER THE ENDS OF A WIRE PASSED ROUND A PACKAGE Filed Sept. 6, 1960 4Sheets-Sheet 4 mul w INVENTOR. IP/ETER A. 1 4 oz B/Lr United Statesatent fiice trash Patented Get. 30, 1962 3,960,841 NECM FOR TYINGTOGETIER THE ENDS OF A WIRE PASSED RUUND A PAEKAGE Pieter A. van deBilt, Maartensdijk, Netherlands, assignor to NSV. Metaverpa, Maar'insdijk, Netherlands, a corporation of the Netherlands Filed Sept. 6,1966 Ser. No. 54,122 Claims priority, application Netherlands Sept. 9,1959 5 Claims. (Cl. ltltl3l) The invention relates to a mechanism fortying together the ends of a wire passed around a package in a packagingmachine, the juxtaposed wires being twisted together by a twistingpinion. Mechanisms of this kind are commonly known in a variety offorms, for which reference is made, for instance, to the US. patentspecification No. 2,416,859. In this known packaging machine thecomplicated movement of a grab jaw is required to feed the ends of thewire into the twisting pinion. This naturally gives rise to manydifficulties and disturbances, which is not desirable if the usuallyautomatic packaging operations are to proceed smoothly.

Furthermore it is already known to pass the wire to be applied aroundthe package twice through the twisting pinion during the feeding thewire, so that the wires do not have to be fed into the twisting pinionsubsequently. This appears very attractive, but the process of feedingthe wire, in particular of passing it twice through the twisting pinion,in practice often tends to cause difiiculties, since the free end of thewire is apt to be arrested, the more so as this end may develop a bendand/or burr in consequence of the preceding packaging operation.Moreover, it will then be almost impossible to pass the wires accuratelyparallel at a fixed distance through the twisting pinion and lock them,and such an accurately parallel relative travel at some distance fromeach other is desirable for flat wire if a satisfactory twisting jointis to be obtained which is not liable to get loose again.

The invention has for its object to obviate these drawbacks and tofurnish a mechanism by means of which it is possible in a simple way tofeed the Wires into the twisting pinion in such a way that they travelaccurately parallel to each other under tension and are twisted.

This object is attained according to the invention by the feature thatthe twisting pinion is supported in a block or carriage which is adaptedto travel to and fro in a direction at right angles to that of the wiresand comprises a recess near the pinion, said recess being partiallycovered by a plate, which keeps the wires at some distance from thepackage at the level of the jaw of the pinion. The uncovered portion ofthe recess forms a passage for the wires. On either side of the plateare fitted fingers, which also rest on the wires and have a lost motionconnection with the block, in such a manner that when the block is movedand pinion travels towards the wires, the passage is temporarily bridgedover to prevent the wires moving through the passage and during thereturn movement it is temporarily cleared to allow upward movement ofthe wires therethrough. By means of this structural solution it ispossible to arrange and tighten the wires accurately parallel viaguides, ahead of the jaw of the twisting pinion, the plate and thefingers causing the wires to be kept at some distance from the packageat the level of the jaw of the twisting pinion. When the sliding blockis now moved, the jaw of the twisting pinion passes over the wires thatare held by the wire guides, the plate, which is located between thewires and the package, moving relative to the wires, but the fingers,which lag owing to the lost motion connection, causing the wires stillto be kept at the same distance from the package. It is not until thewires have passed into the twisting pinion that these fingers move awayfrom the wires during the latter part of the stroke of the sliding blockand the twisting of the wires by the rotation of the pinion can takeplace. In this way a perfectly uniform feeding of the wires from theguide into the pinion is ensured. During the return movement of thesliding I block, which movement takes place after the twisting of theends of the wire, the fingers will again lag, owing to which the passageremains clear and the wires emerging from the pinion are now able tomove freely upwards against the package.

The pinion is preferably driven by a rack that is adapted to travelrelative to the block, with the interposition of two gear wheels mountedon the same shaft, one of which gear wheels meshes with the rack and theother with the pinion, while they are coupled together by a one-wayclutch. Thus it becomes possible to move the twisting pinion only whenthis is necessary, so that the twisting pinion can be stationary duringthe return movement, in order that the ends twisted together may be ableto pass out of the jaw of the twisting pinion. During the slidingmovement of the block, destined to feed the ends of the wire into thejaw of the pinion, the stationary condition of the twisting pinion,which is then also required, may be obtained when the one-way clutch iscaused to perform a small angular rotation in its coupling direction,without any tying being effected, i.e. when it is caused as it were toperform a dead stroke.

Furthermore according to the invention the plate of the block may haveon the lower side a guiding member which is adapted to be swung away andcomprises two channels for the wires, said member being kept in itsoperating position by a spring and having a pivot located at a lowerlevel than the plane of the wire. This guiding member forms a connectionbetween the guiding channels of the lower part of the guiding frame forthe wire, so that near the sliding block too the guiding channels arecontinuous. When the block is set in motion, the wires are bound to getclear, and due to the fact that the pivot of the guiding member islocated in a place beneath the wires, and preferably ahead of them inthe direction of movement, the guiding member automatically swings awayas the block begins to move, in consequence of which the wires are fullycleared, so that they can be seized by the jaw of the twisting pinion.

The invention will now be elucidated further with reference to thedrawings.

FIGURE 1 is a vertical cross-sectional view approximately along thelongitudinal median plane of a packaging machine and illustrates thetwisting mechanism mounted immediately beneath the work table, whichlatter is not shown.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the part shown in FIG- URE 1, with some ofthe details omitted.

FIGURE 3 is an elevational view of a part of the twisting mechanism andillustrates the operation of a knife for cutting off an end of the wire.

FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing the twisting block andassociated parts in their initial position with the cover plate omitted.

FIG. 5 is another view similar to FIG. 1 showing the twisting block andassociated parts in an intermediate position after the twistingoperation wherein the twisted wire ends are released from the twistingblock with the cover plate omitted.

FIGURES 1-3 show the position into which the twisting block has alreadybeen moved and wherein the twist ing pinion has been moved to receive inits jaw the wires. Approximately in the middle of the machine twovertical longitudinal plates 1 and 2 are present, between which arelocated two horizontal plates 3 and 4, which jointly with the plates 1and 2 serve as a guiding track for a sliding block or carriage 5.

At a lower level additional horizontal guiding plates corresponding tothe plates 3 and 4 are present, of which only the plate 6 is visible andwhich serve to support a rack 7. The plates 1, 2, 3, 4, and 6are'mounted in the frame of the machine. This frame also carries theguiding track for the wire, sketchily indicated at 8, by means of whichthe wire is guided to form a loop. The block is moved to and fro withthe aid of the link 9, which is connected with a driving mechanism, e.g.a pneumatic or a hydraulic cylinder 9a or some other driving member.Supported in the block 5 is the twisting pinion 10, the jaw of which isdenoted by 11. The twisting pinion 10 meshes with a gear wheel 12, whichis mounted on a laterally projecting hub of a gear wheel 13 of the samesize, located beside it, which gear wheel 13 meshes with the rack 7. Theconnection between the gear wheel 12 and the hub of gear wheel 13 isbrought about by means of a one-way or overrunning clutch, which isformed by a spring-loaded roller 14, 'which engages a recess 15 thedepth of which decreases gradually towards the left in FIGURE 1, whichrecess ends towards the right in the form of an abutment for the roller.

The block 5 further comprises a plate 16, which during the feeding andtightening of the wire is in the position shown in FIG. 4 of the drawingand which keeps the ends of the wire at some distance from the bottom ofthe package. The guiding member 30, which is adapted to be swung awayabout the pivot 29, is provided with parallel grooves which serve toguide the ends of'the wire accurately until they have been tightened. Oneither side of the plate 16, fingers 17 and 18 are present, which,besides having the same function as the plate 16, have to ensure that asthe block 5 is moved to the left in FIG- URE 1 to the position shown inthis figure the wires are properly fed from beneath the plate 16 to thejaw 11 of the twisting pinion 10. This is possible because the fingers17 and 18 have a lost motion connection with the block 5, shown at 19 inFIGURE 3, in consequence of which these fingers 17 and 18 lag a shortdistance whenever the block travels to and fro. If therefore the blockis moved in such a way that the twisting pinion travels towards thewires, the plate 16 is moved relative to the wires, the guiding member30 swings away, but the fingers 1-7 and 18 remain in their place andaccordingly still keep the wires at some distance from the bottom of thepackage at the level of the jaw of the pinion, which is now able totravel forward between the fingers and to receive the wires. When thelatter has taken place and the ends of the wire now travel towards thecenter of the twisting pinion, the fingers also move on. After thetwisting, the block 5 travels to the right in FIGURE 1, while thefingers 17 and 18 lag, in consequence of which the passage 5a betweenthe leading end of the plate 16 and the jaw of the pinion is cleared asshown in FIG. 5, so that the ends of the wire that have been tiedtogether get clear of the twisting mechanism and come to rest againstthe bottom of the package.

In the initial position of the block 5, as shown in FIG. 4, the ball 14is in its uppermost position; when the block is moved to the left, asindicated in FIGURE 1, this ball joint moves into the position shown inFIGURE 1 because it rolls jointly with the gear wheel 13 on the rack.The pinion 10 has remained in the same position, aided by a locking balland a return pawl (not shown). The rack 7, which is supported by meansof rollers 21 and 21 on the guiding tracks 6, is now driven, e.g. bymeans of the cylinder 22, and thus moves the gear wheel 13 clockwise, sothat after a short dead stroke, which ends when the ball 14 has reachedits uppermost position again, the gear wheel 12 is taken along and thepinion 10 is driven accordingly. The gear wheel 12 is then moved onefull revolution by the rack, and preferably even slightly further, bywhich means a certain overtwist is given, which upon the reversal of thedirection of travel results in the pinion 10 recoiling, owing to theelasticity of the wire,

until it has returned exactly to the position shown in FIGURE 1, so thatthe ends of the wire can pass out of it. During the return movement nodrive takes place and the pinion 10 is stationary, so that at the end ofthe return movement all the driving parts have resumed their originalposition. The rack 7, which can be moved to and fro, at the end of itstravel can operate switches 23 and 24 respectively, of which the switch23 controls the reversal of the direction of movement of the rack andthe switch 24, jointly with a switch operated by the twisting block, canrecord that all the operations to be performed by the machine have beencarried out and a new wire can be fed.

The return movement of the rack 7 can be utilized for cutting off theends of the wire, for which purpose on either side of the block 5 aremounted knives 26 adapted to pivot about shafts 25, which knives areoperated by a lever 27. The ends of the levers 27 are located on eitherside of the rack 7, where a pawl 28 forced upwards by a spring 28' ispresent, which pawl has been fitted in such a way that as the racktravels to the left it is forced down, but as the rack travels to theright it abuts against the lever 27, in consequence of which the knife26 is operated.

What I claim is: w

l. A mechanism for tying together the end portions of a wire extendingaround a package to be bound comprising a carriage mounted to be shiftedin a direction transversely of the end portions of the wire, saidcarriage having a recess in its upper portion extending parallel to theend portions of the wires, a wire twisting pinion mounted in thecarriage on one side of the recess and having a radial slot therein,cover means mounted on the other side of said recess and partiallycovering said recess leaving an upwardly opening passage between thecover means and the pinion, means for shifting the carriage from aninitial position wherein the end portions of the wire extend through therecess beneath the cover means to a second position wherein the pinionreceives the end portions of the wires and returning the carriage to itsinitial position, and means having a lost motion connection with thecarriage and operable during shifting of the carriage from its initialto its second positions to cover the upwardly opening passage to preventthe end portions of the wire from leaving the recess and operable duringthe return shifting of the carriage to open the passage and allow thewire portions to pass upwardly therethrough.

2. A mechanism according to claim 1 further comprising means forrotating the pinion while the carriage is in its second position.

3. A mechanism according to claim 2. in which the pinion rotating meanscomprises a movable rack, a first gear wheel meshing with the rack, asecond gear wheel meshing with the pinion, and one-way clutch meanscoupling the gear wheels together.

4. A mechanism according to claim 1 further comprising guide meanshaving wire guiding channels in its upper surface cooperating with theunder surface of the cover means, means mounting the guide means forswinging movement away from the cover means, and means urging the guidemeans into position against said cover means.

5. In a wire binding machine having a wire guide frame the lower portionof which has wire guiding channels and an intermediate gap, a mechanismfor tying together the ends of a wire extending around an article to bebound, comprising a carriage, shiftable transversely of the channels inthe lower portion of said frame within said gap, said carriage having anopening in its upper surface, cover means covering a portion of saidopening at one side thereof, a guide member positioned to move between aposition against the underside of the cover means and a position spacedbeneath said cover means, said guide member having slots in the uppersurface thereof cooperating with the underside of the cover means toform wire-guiding ducts which register with the channels in the lowerportion of the guide frame in an initial position of the carriage, awire-twisting pinion mounted in the carriage positioned on the otherside or" said opening and having a radial wire-receiving slot facingsaid opening, means 0perable to shift the carriage to bring the pinionto embrace the wires, and means to prevent the Wires from passingupwardly through the opening While the carriage is moving from saidinitial position to a position wherein the Wires are received by thepinion.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS WalkerJune 14, 1927 Harvey Oct. 25, 1938 Vining et a1 Mar. 4, 1947 CranstonAug. 24, 1954 Seltzer Oct. 30, 1956

